Aviation and Transportation Policy

The House of Representatives narrowly rejected the bipartisan ROTOR Act, an aviation safety bill drafted after a midair collision between a U.S. Army helicopter and a passenger jet near Washington, D.C., killed 67 people last year. The measure would have required much wider use of ADS‑B in and ADS‑B out — transponder technology that continuously broadcasts an aircraft’s position to other planes and ground systems — a step National Transportation Safety Board investigators said would likely have prevented that crash by giving pilots more warning. Victims’ families and safety officials backed the bill, but the Pentagon pulled its support just before the vote, with spokesman Sean Parnell warning of "unresolved budgetary burdens and operational impacts" on military aviation. Lawmakers now face pressure from families and safety advocates to either revise the bill to address Defense Department concerns or risk being seen as ducking a targeted fix after a mass‑casualty accident in busy U.S. airspace.